Unfortunately there was no such joy for Northland loosehead prop Bronson Murray, whose 100th ITM Cup match ended in a heavy loss. Lock Tom Murday was the only try scorer for the hosts, with fly-half Ben Seymour adding a conversion and a penalty.

Having secured the try bonus point, Wellington now leapfrog Auckland to go two points clear at the top of the table - having picked up five try bonus points in their five matches so far.